Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev...

KHRUSHCHEV PRAISE.

February 11, 1989

MOSCOW — KHRUSHCHEV PRAISE. Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, removed in a Kremlin coup in 1964 and cast into official oblivion for more than two decades, was hailed as a great reformer at a packed Moscow meeting Friday. ''We owe Khrushchev a tremendous debt,'' historian Roy Medvedev told 3,000 staff and students of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Khrushchev's name was dropped from official history until praised by Kremlin chief Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.